A five-year, $8.8 million pilot project to examine whether seeding clouds with silver iodide produces a measurable increase in snowfall has started in the US. The test area is the skies over Wyoming’s Medicine Bow, Sierra Madre, and Wind River mountain ranges and involves intensive observations of Wyoming snow clouds. Scientists from the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) designed the experiment to evaluate a technique that has been mired in controversy for decades.
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As Canada, the United States and other countries look to crops as possible future sources of energy, some researchers are calling for caution, citing the possibility of some biofuel crops becoming invasive species. The scientists argue that before these crops are widely planted, further ecological studies of biofuel crops are needed. Biofuels (derived from processing these crops) are looked at by many environmentalists as a way to reduce our reliance on non-renewable oil and gasoline.
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New biofuels technology has the potential to turn virtually any fat (including oils from animal fat or from algae) into fuel to power jet airplanes. The technology is said to be 100 percent green as no petroleum-derived products are added to the process. The technology can also be used to make additives for cold-weather biodiesel.
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A cardiothoracic surgeon has become the first physician to use a surgical robot during heart surgery to successfully repair a mitral valve. The advanced technique of repair used is called the “American Correction”. The surgeon used a US Government-approved daVinci robot to repair the mitral valve of a 62-year-old man.
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Nanotechnology is available at a store near you. Valued for its antibacterial and odour-fighting properties, nanoparticle silver is the star attraction in a range of products from socks to bandages to washing machines. But as silver’s benefits propel it to the forefront of consumer nanomaterials, scientists are recommending a closer examination of the unforeseen environmental and health consequences of nanosilver.
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